Happy Birthday Buddha!

, April 23, 2013

Buddhists holding lanterns walk around a giant lantern featuring national treasure "Seokgatap," which is a traditional Buddhist pagoda, during a lighting ceremony in central Seoul April 23. The ceremony is held to celebrate the upcoming birthday of Buddha, which falls on May 17 in South Korea, and also pray for peace in the Korean peninsula. North Korea demanded on Tuesday that it be recognised as a nuclear weapons state, rejecting a US condition that it agree to give up its nuclear arms programme before talks can begin. - Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji